Personally designed to showcase the best of Vietnam at a pace that allows you to enjoy all her wonderful sights and sounds, and ending your tour at a relaxing beach resort on Phu Quoc Island.

This tour makes the most of your valuable holiday time by flying between major centres, therefore allowing the time to sightsee in more depth.

No holiday is complete if there isn’t at least some time for total relaxation, and there is no better place to do that than the tiny isle of Phu Quoc.

Hanoi to Saigon, Vietnam, 14 days / 13 nights

What you will see and do:
 

• Full day city tour of Hanoi including walking and cyclo tour of the old quarter
• Halong Bay overnight cruise on a traditional junk
• The imperial city of Hue
• Hoi An's famous markets and tailors
• Delicious home hosted lunch in the Hoi An countryside
• Full day city tour of cosmpolitan Saigon
• Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple
• Day tour to the Mekong Delta
• Relax for 3 days on Phu Quoc Island

Accommodation:
Groups stay in three star modern hotels and accommodation is twin share and single supplements are available.

The only exception is our stay with a local family in the Mekong Delta. Accommodation is basic, but clean with wonderful hospitable hosts!

Group Size & Departures:
Tours are guaranteed to depart with 4 people on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month. Groups are no bigger than 12 travellers.

This tour can also be booked as a private tour with your choice of accommodation and departing on a day that suits you. It can also be done in reverse. Simply contact us for more details.

Your Guide:
This is a locally guided tour. Our local operator is one of the most experienced in Vietnam and is fully registered. You will be joined for each "section" of the tour by a local expert guide.

This means that your guide in Hanoi will be different from the one in Saigon, but they both will take excellent care of you!

Your Day by Day Itinerary

Day 1 - Arrive in Hanoi

Upon arrival, you are welcomed by our driver and tour guide. Transfer to hotel for check-in. Check-in time is 1400 pm, early check-in is subject to availability. The rest of the day is free at leisure.

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Day 2 - Hanoi, Full Day City Tour (B)

After breakfast, you will make a full day city tour of Hanoi. Hanoi is a fascinating town with ochre-coloured colonial style buildings, tree-lined avenues and many lakes. Visit the Temple of Literature for an overview of Hanoi’s culture and history.

Visit to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, an imposing monument made of an impressive amount of marble and granite. This is where the preserved body of ‘Uncle Ho’ lies in state. Visit the Ho Chi Minh Stilt House where he lived and worked during his presidency, the One-Pillar Pagoda, in the form of a lotus.

Enjoy a walking tour around Hanoi Old Quarter and a one-hour cyclo (cycle rickshaw) ride around the city. This evening attend a traditional water puppet show, a uniquely northern Vietnamese art form especially designed for depicting scenes of rural life and episodes of national history.

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Day 3 - Hanoi – Halong (BLD)

After breakfast, we transfer around 3.5 hours to Halong City with a break en route at a local coffee shop, arriving at noon at the quayside. Here we board the Huong Hai junk to begin a cruise through the spectacular Halong Bay, stopping along the way to explore the limestone caves or just lazing about on the deck of our boat.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, Halong Bay is one of Vietnam’s most spectacular natural wonders. The tiny limestone islands are dotted with many beaches and grottoes created by the wind and waves providing an excellent backdrop for swimming. Lunch and dinner served on board.

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Day 4 - Halong – Hanoi - Hue (By Air) (Brunch)

Enjoy breakfast and continue your exploration of Halong Bay. At 1100 am, disembark the junk and transfer back to Hanoi. Transfer to the airport, for your flight to Hue. Upon arrival, meet guide and transfer to hotel for check-in.

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Day 5 - Hue (BD)

After breakfast, we take a boat trip on the Perfume River to visit Thien Mu pagoda with its seven-storey tower, Hue’s most preserved religious monument. We continue for visits to the Imperial Citadel and Dong Ba market.

Afternoon, drive to visit the elaborate Tu Duc Royal Tomb which was designed to blend with the natural settings of the landscape and Khai Dinh Royal Tomb with architecture that has elements of eastern art mixed with western designs. This evening, enjoy royal cuisine at an ancient Hue restaurant.

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Day 6 - Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An (B)

After breakfast, check out of your hotel and we drive to Da Nang, over the Hai Van Pass with spectacular panoramic views of the central coastline from the summit. En route, stop for a visit at the Cham Museum and China beach en route.

Hoi An, a former international trading port during the 17th and 18th century, is an eclectic mix of western and eastern-influenced architecture. Check in to your hotel. This afternoon, take a walking tour of the ancient town centre.

Visit the former merchants’ houses built in a combination of Vietnamese, Japanese and Chinese styles; the 400 year-old Japanese Covered Bridge constructed in 1593; Sa Huynh Museum located near the Japanese covered Bridge, which contains exhibits from the earliest period of Hoi An's history and the colourful market with its stalls brimming with tropical specialties.

The market is a good place to buy silk, which can be fashioned into fine garments, all within a day.

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Day 7 - Hoi An, Countryside (Bl)

Today, experience a day with the local people in the rural outskirt of Hoi An. Morning, enjoy an interesting trip to Tra Que market garden village. Stroll around the vegetable gardens, join the farmers in preparing the land and learn how they fertilize it with seaweed from the local lake. Learn how they cultivate the vegetables by raking, sowing, watering greens and picking greens, and other interesting gardening methods.

Home-hosted lunch with the local family with many local delicacies including ‘Tam Huu’, a type of spring roll made from Tra Que vegetables. After lunch, continue on to Thanh Nam Fishing village, stay and experience work with the local people to learn their traditional methods of fishing.

You’ll be briefed on some simple traditional fishing tools, and then embark on a boat with some local fishermen to learn how to cast a net - and hopefully catch some fish!

Complete your trip at Dai Chiem estuary to visit the peaceful waterways with colourful boats and wharf. Drive back to your hotel and relax.

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Day 8 - Da Nang, Saigon (Air); Full Day City Tour (B)

After breakfast, transfer to Da Nang airport and take a morning flight to Saigon. Embark on a full day trip of Saigon’s historic landmarks including the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral 1880, the former Presidential Palace, once headquarters for the Saigon Government during the ‘American War’, and a choice of the Historical Museum (closed on Mondays) or the War Remnant Museum.

In the afternoon, visit Saigon’s ‘twin city’, the Chinese district of Cholon, the bustling wholesale quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, and Thien Hau temple built by Cantonese Buddhists at the end of 18th century.

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Day 9 - Saigon, Cu Chi Tunnels And Cao Dai Temple (Bl)

In the morning, drive about 60 miles northwest of Saigon to the Cao Dai Great Temple. This modern sect, founded in the 1920s, is a fusion of Buddhist, Confucian, Taoist, and Christian beliefs, with a dash of Islam thrown in. There is an opportunity to observe a very colourful service at midday. Lunch is at a simple local (rural) dinner.

In the afternoon, continue your drive to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, the remains of a bloody battlefield and a complex network of tunnels built during the long years of wars. Return to Saigon for an evening at leisure.

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Day 10 - Saigon – My Tho (Mekong Delta) – Saigon (Bl)

After breakfast, we set out on an excursion to My Tho in the Mekong Delta. Enjoy a 2-hour scenic drive passing paddy fields and river tributaries. On arrival, board our private motorized boat for a river cruise on the upper part of the Mekong River.

This will give you a taste of life on the mighty Mekong River, visit a fish-raising village before entering Vam Xep canal and a stop for a stroll around Quoi An fruit orchard, visiting fruit-drying kilns and coconut craft wares home.

Enhance your trip with a short horse-drawn cart ride along the village road. On arrival at Ben Truc – Phong Phu garden, sample Mekong Delta fruit whilst enjoying traditional local music, and take the opportunity to interact with the local people, whose livelihood is on the river here. Take a rowing boat trip to explore the water palm canals.

Re-board the main boat and transfer back to My Tho in time for lunch at Mekong Rest Stop restaurant and some great Mekong specialities. Drive back to Saigon and transfer to your hotel.

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Day 11 - Saigon – Phu Quoc (By Air) (B)

After breakfast, free at leisure till transfer to the airport for your flight to Phu Quoc island.
Upon arrival, transfer to the hotel for check-in. The rest of the day is free at leisure.

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Day 12 & 13 - Phu Quoc (B)

Enjoy breakfast and the full day is free at leisure to enjoy the beautiful beach or hotel’s
facilities.

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Day 14 - Phu Quoc – Saigon (By Air); Saigon – Departure (B)

After breakfast, time at leisure until your transfer to the airport and flight back to Saigon.

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The tour is priced from NZ$2688pp share twin and includes:
12 x Breakfasts 4 x Lunches 2 x Dinners, Local guide, Modern Air-conditioned vehicles, All entrances fees and permits, Halong Bay Cruise, Flights Hanoi to Hue Danang to Saigon, Saigon to Phu Quoc Island return, Meals as indicated